Guest Post: A Possible Solution for the PA Royalty Issue

MDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see www.PianoGrands.com). A few years ago, it was established that Chris’ property in Susquehanna County sits atop one of the Marcellus shale’s most prolific areas. He leased with Cabot Oil & Gas and has a well sitting off his front porch not more than 200 yards away. Chris is now happily engaged once again in energy economics, with an emphasis, naturally, on gas. Chris is MDN editor Jim Willis’ right arm when it comes to scanning for stories, something Jim is profoundly grateful for. Chris sent Jim a note about the royalty issue, just a couple of paragraphs–and Jim found more wisdom in his few sentences than he has seen to date. So Jim asked Chris for permission to post his pearls of wisdom, and Chris decided to expand it. Below is a very thoughtful, intelligent, useful post on the royalty issue currently causing a schism between landowners and drillers in the Keystone State. We encourage everyone with an interest in this issue to read it. It contains a few new ideas we’ve not heard either side float–ideas that may help us find a way out of the current mess…